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4th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment
|branch= British Army |type= Infantry battalion |role= Internal Security |size= 750 |current_commander= |Regimental Headquarters= Lisburn |march=(Quick) Garryowen & Sprig of Shillelagh. (Slow) Oft in the Stilly Night |motto= "Quis Separabit" ( ) "Who Shall Separate Us?" |commander1= First: General Sir John Anderson GBE, KCB, DSO. Last: General Sir Charles Huxtable, KCB, CBE, DL |commander1_label= Colonel Commandant |commander2=Colonel Sir Dennis Faulkner CBE }} 4th (County Fermanagh) Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment (4 UDR) was formed in 1970 as part of the 7 original battalions specified in the The Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969, which received Royal Assent on 18 December 1969 and was brought into force on 1 January 1970.Statutory Instrument, 1969 No. 1860 (C. 58), The Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969 (Commencement) Order 1969The New Law Journal, Volume 120, Part 1 It was amalgamated with the 6th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment in 1992 to form the 4th/6th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment. History Along with the other 6 original battalions, 4 UDR commenced operational duties on 1 April 1970. The first training Major (TISO) was Major KW Battison Royal Welsh Fusiliers.Potter p27 Part of his job was to find accommodation for the various companies of the new battalion. Where possible accommodation was sought in army bases although the old Ulster Special Constabulary platoon huts were vacant and available. To have used those would have attracted criticism from those who were already claiming that the UDR was the B Specials under a new name. The battalion was initially based in the ladies rest room of the territorial army centre in Enniskillen but was moved to Grosvenor Barracks, Coleshill, Enniskillen where a new "hardened" barracks was eventually built, partially underground, to withstand mortar attack. The modified barracks was opened by the Duke of Westminster in 1991 Potter p345 (Grosvenor being the family name of the Duke. He has long standing family and military connections with the area). Most patrols from of Grosvenor Barracks went out by helicopter or boat. Because of the danger of ambush vehicles were only used in the urban area around Enniskillen. The county is surrounded on three sides by the Republic of Ireland. Boat patrols were common as the county contains upper and lower Lough Erne.Ryder p191 The battalion performed this task when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher made her last visit to the area just several days before her resignation. Uniform, armament & equipment See: Ulster Defence Regiment Uniform, armament & equipment Greenfinches Intimidation Protestant and Catholic soldiers were both intimidated out of the regiment.Potter p58 Following the introduction of internment however more Catholic soldiers found themselves the subject of intimidation from within their own community. In Enniskillen one member of the conrate guard was Catholic. Some of his neighbours came to his home in the early hours of the morning and beat him as well as scrubbing his face with a hard brush. He was a frail man but was beaten black and blue and his face badly damaged by the brush. He resigned from the battalion the next day.Potter p59 Casualties *On 1 March 1971, 43 year old Thomas Fletcher (A Company) was abducted from his home at Frevagh near Garrison, County Fermanagh and killed a short distance away with 22 shots being fired into him, witnessed by his wife.Ryder p55 Within five days of this other soldiers of the 4th Battalion who lived in the Garrison area and had been threatened by the IRA, abandoned their homes and farms near the border. *On 3 September 1971, Private Frank Veitch, aged 23, (B Company) a farmer, was on duty outside Kinawley police station. He was killed by five shots fired from a passing car. He was the first soldier from the 4th Battalion to be killed and the second from the regiment to be killed in action.Palace Barracks Memorial Garden - Northern Ireland, Falklands Islands, Felix Memorial Garden *Private Tommy. R. Bullock Age 53 (C. Company), 21 September 1972. He and his Wife were shot at home as they watched TV by the IRA. Mrs Bullock was shot dead at the front porch, The gunmen stepped over her body and went inside to kill her husband.Ryder p56 Notable personnel *Category:Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers *Category:Ulster Defence Regiment officers See also *Ulster Defence Regiment *List of battalions and locations of the Ulster Defence Regiment Bibliography *''A Testimony to Courage – the Regimental History of the Ulster Defence Regiment 1969–1992'', John Potter, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001, ISBN 0-85052-819-4 *''The Ulster Defence Regiment: An Instrument of Peace?, Chris Ryder 1991 ISBN 0-413-64800-1 * Lost Lives'', David McKittrick, Mainstream, 2004, ISBN 184018504X References Category:Infantry regiments of the British Army Category:Military history of County Fermanagh Category:Recipients of the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1992 Category:Defunct Irish regiments of the British Army Category:Battalions of the Ulster Defence Regiment